Inner sole for boots or shoes.



PATENTED' SEPT. 29, 1903.

W. H. ADAMS. INNERSOLE FOR BOOTS 0R. SHOES. APPLICATION FILED 1mm. 1901.

no MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented September 29, 1903:

PATENT OFFICE;

WILLIAM H. ADAMS, OF LAWVRENGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM L.BARRELL, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

INNER soLE FOR soon; on SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,351 dated September29, 1903.

Application filed November 2, 1901'. Serial lilo. 80,901. (No model.)

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lawrence, county ofEssex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in InnerSoles for Boots or Shoes, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representinglike parts.

Textile inner soles as employed in certain classes of shoes have givengreat satisfaction, as they possess to a marked degree strength,flexibility, durability, and comfort, acting to hold the shoe togetherand maintain its shape,- and ease of production andeconomy ofmanufacture result from their use. Various attempts have been made toattain the same resuit in a Goodyear welt-sewed shoe; but for variousreasons these efforts have been commercially unsuccessful. Such innersolesv as have been utilized in such shoeshave been made of superposedlayers of difierent materialsuch as leather or leather-board and canvasor tar-felt, buckram, and cord--secured together by stitching or cementand channeled or grooved or provided with some kind of a raised rib orlip to receive the stitches which unite the welt, upper and lining, andinner sole. The canvas ply which receives these stitches largely orentirely furnishes the strength in such compound inner soles, and asthey are manifestly non-homogeneous any impairment thereof-as, forinstance, separa tion of the plies-will seriously injure the strengthand shape of the shoe. Leather is objectionable for inner soles onaccount of its high cost and because of its deterioration in use,resulting in hardening, cracking and breaking, and warping, whichfrequently causes the stitching to break through or curls up the emptyshoe at the toe. So, too, the variable character of leather gives riseto more or less difficulty in handling in the various processes, and ahigher grade of skill is necessary than is the case when handlingtextile material.

features of high-priced inner solessuch as flexibility, durability, andstrengthand being entirely free from any of the objectionable featureshereinbefore referred to.

Figure 1 is a top or plan view, partly broken out, of an inner soleembodying myi'nvention, the stitch-receiving Wale orrib being showncompleted along one edge only. Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectionalview of the doubleply fabric which forms the inner sole. Fig. 3 is atransverse section on the line so in, Fig. 1, showing the separation ofthe two plies of the fabric at the edges thereof. Fig. iillustrates theformation of the stitch-receiving lip or Wale and the feather from theseparate edges of the plies. A

In accordance with my invention I make the inner sole of astrongly-woven fabric consisting of two or more plies, preferably two,the superposed plies being closely connected and firmly bound togetherby suitable bind ing-th reads, so that the plies are united into ahomogeneous structure and mutually support and strengthen each other.

In the double-ply textile fabric herein illustrated the superposed pliesa and b are united by suitable binder-warps c, which are carried aboutthe weft-threads oz if of the plies, respectively, as clearly shown inthe enlarged section, Fig. 2, the plies being widely separated thereinto more clearly show the structure. The inner sole is cut, stamped, ordied out of such a fabric in any suitable manner to the required shapeand size, and the plies are separated uniformly along their edges bysevering the binder-threads c for a suitable distance inward, suchseparationof the plies being shown at a b, Fig. 8, and the separa-' tionpreferably extends from the shank at one side of the inner sole forwardto and around the toe to the shank at the opposite side, as indicated bythe dotted line 20, Fig. 1. This splitting or separation of the pliesmay be effected in any suitable manner and forms no part of my presentinvention. The stitch or inseam receiving lip, rib, or Wale is formed bybending, crimping, tucking, or turning the outer edge of one of theplies at an angle to the body portion of the insole and folding the sameback and in cont-act with itself, and a feather is formed by turning theouter edge I of another of said plies back upon and in 7 contact withitself, said body portion, lip, and

feather all being of the same thickness.

In Fig. 4 the ply a is bent, turned, or folded back upon and in contactwith itself and upturned at an angle to the body portion, presenting anupturned double thickness a which forms the lip or wale to receive thestitches of the inseam.

The ply b is formed by turning the outer edge thereof back upon and incontact with itself, as shown clearly in Fig. 4.

In order to allow the plies to be folded or turned into the desiredforms, it is necessary that such plies be of substantially equal weightand of similar construction, and in order that each ply shall fold orcrimp uniformly around the curved portions of the inner sole it ispreferable to have each ply of substantially similar construction in thewarp and filling.

- The fabric is preferably sized or stiffened before being cut intoshape in order that the threads may be readily cut or channeled aroundthe outer edge of the body portion of the insole, the channeling beingeffected between the two plies of the fabric; but this stiffening formsno part of the present invention.

Whatever the particular formation of the lip or inseam-receiving portionof the inner sole and the feather portion, it will be manifest that theyare integral parts of the body portion and that the superposed plies ofthe main or body portion are closely and firmly united by thebinder-threads in a homogeneous fabric.

My invention is not restricted to the preciseconstruction hereindescribed,as the same may be modified in various particulars, the gistof my invention consisting of an inner sole formed of a single piece ofsheet material comprising a body portion of niulti-ply fabrie,channeledaround the outer edge thereof between two plies of said fabric, a lipbeing formed by turning up the outer edge of one of said plies at anangle to said body'portion and folding the same back and in contact withitself and the feather formed by turning theouter edge of another ofsaid plies back upon and in contact with itself, said body portion, lip,and feather being of the same thickness.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. As an article of manufacture, an insole formed of a single piece ofsheet material, comprising a body portion of multi-ply fabric channeledaround the outer edge thereof between two plies of said fabric, a lipformed by turning up the outer edge of one of said plies at an angle tosaid body portion and folding the same back and in contact with itself,and a feather formed by turning. the outer edge of another of said pliesback upon and in contact with itself, said body portion, lip and featherall being of the same thickness. 2. As an article of manufacture, aninsole formed of a single piece of homogeneous multi-ply woven textilefabric, comprising a body portion of such fabric, the plies whereof areunited uniformly by integrally-woven binderthreads and channeled aroundits outer edge between two plies, the outer edge of oneply being turnedup and folded back upon itself to form a stitch-receiving lip and wale,and the outer edge of another ply being turned back upon and in contactwith itself to form a feather, the body portion, lip and feather beingof substantially the same thickness.

3. As an article of manufacture, an insole formed of a homogeneous,woven two ply sheet of textilefabric, having the two plies of the samethickness and construction in the warp and filling, said plies beingunited uniformly over their adjacent surfaces by suitableintegrally-woven binder-threads, the insole being channeled around theouter edge between the two plies of said fabric, a lip or Wale formed byturning up the outer edge of one of said plies at an angle to the bodyportion of the fabric, and folding the same back and in contact withitself,and a feather formed by turning the outer edge of the other plyback upon and in contact with itself, the body portion of the fabric,lip and feather all being of substantially the same thickness.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. ADAMS.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, ELIZABETH R. MORRISON.

